You don't know the half of it. I heard at this one location they wouldn't let you go until they harvested one of your kidneys and then gave you aids by making you sit in a dark theater that had hypodermic needles embedded in the seats. Not sure what the movie was..................................

This may very well be true... or not. I didn't read anything but the beginning. Just understand that it goes both ways. There are people that get mocked mercilessly (or much worse) for being Christian or Muslim, Jewish etc... This is called "Human Nature" and no one group has a monopoly on it.

Here's the truth: boarding/military schools are not evil, parents can send you to one whenever they please until you either reach the age of majority or sue them for emancipation, and withholding food as described in this reddit post is so illegal in the US that a prison found guilty of serving unappetizing or slightly stale food is fined hundreds of thousands of dollars. *Not* feeding someone is considered worse than that and has appropriately higher punishments. I've heard and read that same kind of allegations about being sent to military school for behavior problems and/or drug use and in every case the torture they received was not nearly as bad as what they had built through telling and retelling the story. All of these allegations read like fish stories, which if they were even slightly true would be massive PR nightmares for each and every school once the first kid told their story for the first time. Institutionally starved, tortured, and abused kids in the US makes for great news. Kids with behavioral problems who resent their parents for tough love... not so much.

Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all. ~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~

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xxkid123

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Re: Story from RedditReply #4 - Mar 2nd, 2012 at 11:28pm

Bullcrap. Sure they might have been sent to a harsh school because they differed with their parents. Being sent to Jamaica? Come on.

However, I would not be surprised if it actually did happen, or even worse. I don't trust human nature anymore than I would trust a shark to babysit a baby covered in blood.

Reddit and 4chan have been renowned throughout the internet for trolling and plain BS. Anything I see there I would take with a barrel of salt. Also, Reddit is extremely hostile towards all religions. They have even more anti religious fervor than the Vatican does with pro-catholicism.

There's no break, there's no end, just a-living on;&&Wide awake, with a smile, going on and on.

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Morphy

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Re: Story from RedditReply #5 - Mar 2nd, 2012 at 11:58pm

Alright, I should have read this I guess because I actually know quite a bit about this subject. I worked in a place just like this for several years. Let me tell you both sides so you can understand what is really going on.

First, yes they do have what they call "transporters" that will come in and take you in the middle of the night. There is a dang good reason for this. The reason is because any teen bad enough to need to be sent here will run away if he even gets a hint that they are going to send him here. We had some families tell their kids they were going to Disney land or on some vacation and then actually take them to us. Many of these teens are hardcore drug addicts, gang bangers and just really screwed up. Yes, it has to be done. When you have kids and you love them more than life itself and you see them killing themselves and no matter what you do you can't stop them, you will understand, trust me.

Second, no one sends their kids to these places on a whim. These places are crazy expensive. I think ours was like 5 grand a month. And you had to sign up for an entire year. So these places are last resorts, period.

Third, Yes there is the threat of Jamaica. (Believe it or not Kid, it's true.) Again there is a good reason. Some of these kids are so messed up you CANNOT get through to them. I have literally seen teens piss all over the walls of the room they were in and then drink their own urine and flop around in it. I have seen teens do worse things then that. I've seen teens that will stay in these places for years and years because they know that nothing physical can be done to them and they just want to bleed their parents dry of money. They would literally bankrupt their parents because their parents didn't know what else to do and sent them there. It's just a game for them. They don't care about anyone but themselves. Kids these days live in a world where they know that no one can lay a hand on them. They think they run the show and often times, in our screwed up society they do. So Jamaica is always there for an absolute last resort. It is almost never used though. If you think this is bad, I suggest you see how they act from first hand experience and you may just change your mind on it.

Fourth, food is never withheld from a child, no matter how bad they have been. Ever, end of story. You have a mountain of paperwork to do when disciplining these kids. If there is even a whiff of that kind of behavior then that place would be shut down immediately.

Fifth, this kid was obviously a huge problem child if he was there for 2 years. That essentially means he spent an entire year being an A** even though he knew it would only keep him there longer. That right there is a big clue about the person writing this. Yes, some kids do what's called "fake it till you make it". But I've seen lives changed for the better. I've seen the therapy programs used for these kids. They're called seminars and there is a series of them. There is some good stuff in there. Nothing is perfect. I can assure you though this kid that wrote it is probably a top notch prick who after spending 2 years in a program never saw the reason why his parents put him in it to begin with. He will go on with his life believing he is always the victim and that the world should revolve around him. If only you could see what kinds of behavior and attitude a lot of these kids have first hand you would really begin to see it from a different point of view.

There's no break, there's no end, just a-living on;&&Wide awake, with a smile, going on and on.

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Morphy

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Re: Story from RedditReply #7 - Mar 3rd, 2012 at 12:50am

By the way... many of the pictures featured on the Horizon Academy web site are actually of Cross Creek Programs which is where I worked. I know and worked with some of the kids featured in those pictures. Cross Creek I know for sure is non-religious and I seriously, seriously doubt would have taken a kid for just being Atheist.

About your long post above, starting with 'alright'and ending with 'point of view'

people taking you away during the middle of the night is pretty fanatical and I feel strongly about the topic being mentioned. If it's a joke its gone much to far, and if not then I have many, for lack of a better term, misgivings.

There's no break, there's no end, just a-living on;&&Wide awake, with a smile, going on and on.

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Morphy

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Re: Story from RedditReply #10 - Mar 3rd, 2012 at 2:44am

I'm certainly open to any solutions you have Kid. Feel free to post what you think would work if you so desire and hopefully I can see it from your point of view better.

It's a hard situation to judge unless you have walked in the families shoes that have had to make such a choice. I can imagine parents would feel guilty sending them there. I can also imagine a parent would feel pretty guilty if they knew their child was in a dire situation and did nothing about it only to wake up one morning and find they had died from a heroine overdose.

"Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotism." -Aristotle

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Mauro Fiorentini

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Re: Story from RedditReply #11 - Mar 3rd, 2012 at 6:50am

Well, now I'm shocked.I'll try to explain my feelings and excuse my poor English, I'll try to be as much schematic as possible.

- 1: people catch me at night? Because my parents fear I will run away? Then it's my parent's fault, they're obviously unable to control me.- 2: these Institutions are expensive: therefore, only riches can hope a way out of the drug? And what about poor families? They can die of Aids? (even if, IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, at least poor kids can sleep without problems).- 3: the use of force to correct kids? Drug addition is a DISEASE, more than a CRIME: would you treat this way a cigarette smoker? An alcoholic? A kleptomaniac?- 4: I haven't understand how Jamaica is involved here. Is it a last resort? Why? What happens there? (and on a side: if you need a "last resort", well then it's quite clear that what you're doing in these Institutions does not work so well).

If that kid was a problem because his therapy lasted 2 years, well then you should have tried to put ME in therapy instead. I wonder how many of these therapists would still have all their teeth. Sorry, I absolutely don't want to be controversial, but things have changed since the last century. Asylums have been closed and crazy guys now freely walk on the streets, and this did not lead to a crime growth.Drug addicteds are frail persons and while it's easy to overwhelm them with an organized force, it's surely hard job to gradually accompany them out of their disease.It's a lesson of humility.

If a kid has drug problems, you have to follow him because he's looking in the drug for something he's missing elsewhere. You can't force him to stop, you have to find something he loves more that drug. You can trust me, my cousin was a drug addicted, he spent his nights sleeping in niches and cemeteries. We spent YEARS helping him and he now has a respectable job at the shipyard.Mom worked at a lawyer's office and there were many cases of drug addictes. NONE of them have been forced to stop, but many choose to follow some rehabilitation, and 85% of them managed to stop using drugs.None of them had to be picked up at night using SS methods.Greetings,Mauro.

I wouldn't even put a serial killer through that. That Anders guy from Sweden? Couldn't do it to him. If the kids are that bad, put them into juvie or jail. If they're pissing over the walls they obviously have mental issues, possibly from a center like 'Horizons'.

This place reminds me of 1950"s mental institutions. They don't understand mental issues so those in them are abused. Lobotomy? Disgusting. Jamaica? Probably even worse. Morphy, I'm a high school student. Every day I go to school I see these drug addicts, these gangs. When it's class, chances are they will be ditching,sexing with their girlfriends and getting into fights. And I will assure you that putting them through any such program will never be successful. The best you can do is give them post tramautic disorder so through fear, so that they will spend their life in mute fear.

This would be something I would expect from Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin or a middle ages inquisition. Not in an educational institution in the west.

There's no break, there's no end, just a-living on;&&Wide awake, with a smile, going on and on.

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Morphy

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Re: Story from RedditReply #13 - Mar 3rd, 2012 at 11:48am

I'm not sure what Adolf Hitler you're talking about but I'm fairly sure it's not the one I've heard of. I worked there a few years and never did get to see the on site gas chambers and crematoriums...

Let me tell you a little bit from the lowly grunt worker. I was a "Youth Supervisor". Basically a glorified baby sitter. I loved the kids in the groups I worked with. Some more then others simply based on personality but I cared about all of them. We talked over music and games and things that interested them and bothered them. Their home life, what they feel like was going wrong..etc. I loved them, as did their therapist, their social workers and their Psychologist. Hell their therapist was like a second father to many of them. For you guys to compare it to Nazi death camps is pretty disgusting to me actually.

We were not allowed to do any physical punishment. And we didn't want to either. And Mauro, force was never used to "correct" these problems where I was at. And Jamaica, where one could use corporal punishment if needed, was considered a failure on our parts to get through to the kid and was an option almost never taken. And when it was it was the parents decision, not ours. We believed in teaching those who would learn ways to deal with their problems that didn't involve needles and guns. Sounds like Nazi Germany to me...

This is more than a job for many that work there. These kids become part of your life. The kid that pissed on the walls and drank it was NOT crazy. We didn't take crazy kids. This was a kid that pushed boundaries and did whatever was necessary to get a reaction, he was gone shortly thereafter. There was nothing we could do to help someone that just didn't care about anything but themselves.

I see a lot of idealism here and no realistic answers. God help your teenage children should you ever have one. I couldn't imagine sitting around until I find out one day they died from an overdose or in a drive by because it offended me to try and help them.

And I cannot understand this fixation on the night transports... What do you think happens when these kid's crack houses are raided or they get busted for gang violence? Do you think the cops drive them to jail in a buggy pulled by unicorns? Do you think Care Bears serve them breakfast in bed in prison? Any kid at risk enough to be sent there sees a hell of a alot worse just in their daily life than a guy(s) who drive them cross country and buys them fast food from their favorite places. Really guys? Serial killers? Stalin?

Last I checked most places kill serial killers, but you wouldn't allow the mean old therapist to give them hugs and help them break down their addictions and their past abuse issues through love and common sense? Really bizarre...

"Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotism." -Aristotle

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HurlinThom

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Re: Story from RedditReply #14 - Mar 3rd, 2012 at 12:24pm

Everybody's right and everybody's wrong. To some extent.

I see the Redditt article as either a way for a guy who was forced into one of these institutions to get revenge on the "system" (total narcissist) or just some idiot who wants to stir up controversy.

Double-X, you probably have very little idea of what some kids can put parents through. Though in most cases I think it's partly the parents' fault for screwing the kids up as much as the kids' fault.

That said, the opportunity for abuse exists, and where it exists someone is doing it. Against the rules, all that. Look a the current controversy about the Saints having a pool paying off for injuring opposing players, strictly against league rules. (And these offenders don't really need the money; it's like playing poker for matchsticks to them.)

As for "corporal punishment", we had that at my high school. It was sort of a "macho" thing to get swats, comparing which of the teachers handed out the hardest ones. It was the PE and shop instructors who did this, BTW. A paddle might be labelled the "Board of Education". Maybe the delicate flowers that are being raised today would wilt under this brutality* but we took it in stride.

Mauro, some people just have addictive personalities. Punishment won't work, as you say. The best thing seems to be redirecting them so that their "addiction" is to something neutral or even beneficial.